


On the Watch

by FairyQueenRose



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kind of futuristic setting, Kind of office setting, M/M, Past France/England - Freeform, Romance, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Soulmate Watches, USUK - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:54:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyQueenRose/pseuds/FairyQueenRose
Summary: Set in a futuristic world where people meet their soulmates by the countdown of their implanted watches, Arthur Kirkland is a current writer for a media outlet, one that specializes in romance and anything soulmate related. He struggles to find passion in his current work, most likely due to his previously failed relationship and his broken watch. Can watches even be broken? Or is it just him?Finding the answers to these questions might be more than he bargained for as he learns more about the creation of the watches and the people behind them, and perhaps even more about love.
Relationships: America/England (Hetalia)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	On the Watch

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: There is some descriptions of self-harm later on in this chapter.
> 
> I tried my best to catch spelling and grammar mistakes but I probably didn't catch everything. I Apologize in advance if you catch a mistake.

It was a dreary, cold fall evening as overcast clouds started to litter the streets with rain. People were rushing about on the sidewalks and walkways, most likely rushing home from the completed work day. 

Arthur watched the people go by from the entrance window, a tired expression lining his face. It was another hard day at work for him. His article for the blog their company runs got heavily critiqued. After spending the last three days on this particular piece, he was told to scrap it and come up with another, and without a change in deadline. 

He ran a hand through his already messy blonde hair and let out a sigh, as he recalled the scene from earlier that day. 

He had been called into his bosses office right after lunch. Mr. Myers was known to bring bad news after a break, so Arthur felt justified for his nervousness as he made his way down the hall. He stopped outside the plain wooden door to mess with his dress shirt sleeves, making sure he looked presentable before he gave a polite knock.

“You can enter.” A deep, gruff voice responded.

Arthur quickly complied and found himself in the familiar sight of My. Myers office. It was a basic set up, with a dark wood desk, piled with papers, family pictures, awards and office supplies. Artwork most likely provided by the building they rented was displayed on the white walls. Two leather chairs were sat in front of the main desk where Arthur quickly took a seat. 

“You wanted to see me sir?” Arthur asked letting his hands rest in his lap, trying not to fidget with them. 

Mr. Myers, an older man with graying hair and age lines on his face was busy looking over his computer before he glanced in Arthur’s direction.

“Yeah, hey Kirkland how’s your day going?” His voice was deep and rough, probably an effect from the amount of smoking the man was known for. His expression remained firm as he turned his full attention over to him. 

“It’s been fine for a Monday I suppose. And you sir?” 

Arthur hated this kind of small talk. It was just customary pleasantries. An illusion setup to help make employees feel valued or secure. He couldn’t help but clench his fists, hoping to get to the point of the matter quickly. 

“The Wasps won the game last night, and I got to see the grandkids over the weekend. So I would say it's been a good start to the week.” 

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah.” His boss nodded and then looked over at his stack of papers, taking the first couple off the top and seeming to look them over. 

“But you know, it would have been even better if I didn’t get a poor excuse of an article for our feature page.” 

Arthur could feel his pulse speed up in his hands and he couldn’t help the frown take place on his face. 

“Beg your pardon?”

“Come on Kirkland, I can’t push this piece.” Mr. Myers laid the papers back down on the desk and pushed it over to him. “We need something that will really generate the clicks. Our reader base doesn't want to read about the latest museum exhibit. That's what the newspaper is for, if anyone still reads it.” His boss snickered at his own comment.

“I think it’s an interesting article though.” Arthur wanted to argue. He had spent quite a bit of time and work into this and he wanted it to be shared. “The current exhibit explains a lot of past technology, and they even found some items that leads into further questioning and research of the implementation of our current technology, such as our soulmate watches and -”

“Soulmates!” His boss gave an excited nod. “Now that is always a nice, usual topic that we can produce. People always want to know ways to find them, what they should do to prepare; now that's what our people want to read.”

“I mean perhaps… romance is in general a very sought after genre and-” 

“I can see it now, ‘Top 10 spots to Meet Your True Love’ we can even get that Vargas kid in design to source some cheesy beach images or something.”

“You want me to come up with another listing article? Didn’t we just do one featuring ‘The Top 15 Places to Go on Your Date with The One’?

“Yeah, that one preformed really well. We even got it featured in a spot of ‘The Watch’ that sissy online girl magazine, you know the one.” Mr. Myers waved his hand in a vague motion before he let it rest on the desk and drummed his fingers for a few seconds. 

“Say, how many years left do you have on your watch anyway? By your age I would have assumed you would have found your other half by now…”

Arthur was quick to grab at his right wrist as if he was burned. He was now hyper aware of his watch, with the metal device suddenly feeling intensely cold against his skin.

“Still quite a few years left I’m afraid.” 

There was a grunt of a response before Mr. Myers folded his hands in front of him. This was the usual sign that he was nearly done with the discussion. “Well, why don’t we go back to our normal way of writing yeah?” 

Arthur couldn’t help keep the frustration from leaking onto his face. His eyebrows furrowed and he scowled in response. 

“With all due respect sir, I would like to write something a little more engaging. I don’t want to write ‘cookie cutter’ pieces. I want to write something with more passion. I’m sure this article will perform up to the normal standards. I think we should take a shot of breaking out of the norm and noise of what generates ‘clicks’.”

“Engaging?” His boss raised an eyebrow. “All of our work is engaging. Our readers ‘engage’ by clicking on them. People wouldn’t click on it if it didn’t interest them.” Mr. Myers leaned forward.   
“And it’s not about what you want to write, it’s about what they want to be written. If you want to write about boring museum exhibits, do it on your own time. Not mine.”

Arthur was quiet for a moment. His face was warm from the frustration. His palms were growing sore from the digging marks he left from clenching his fists so hard. He knew he wouldn’t win this battle. He never would. 

“Yes sir. I will have it on your desk by Friday.”

“Nope. I need it by Wednesday.” Mr. Myers turned his attention back to his computer and started to scroll through his email. 

“That’s a day and a half! That’s hardly enough time to draft up an entire new piece!” He was now standing out of his seat, glaring at his boss. He couldn’t believe the short amount of time the man was enforcing on him. 

“It will be done by Wednesday.”

There was a tense silence as Arthur stared at the other man for a few minutes. He was biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying something he would regret. After a few seconds of quiet breathing, he walked over and reached for the door to leave. Once he was almost through the doorway Mr. Myers spoke once more.

“Kirkland, if I don’t like this next article, you're getting assigned to the ‘Ask Alice’ blog.” 

The ask Alice blog was the lowest a writer could go in his department. It was essentially given out to interns to give them experience. It consisted of being in charge of answering questions from readers seeking advice, which based on their reader based consisted mostly of questions regarding soulmates. The ‘Ask Alice’ questions were only addressed occasionally, so the work was very slim, hence why it was given to interns, or the very few part-timers. 

Arthur himself had written for the blog when he was first brought onto the company four years ago. He viewed it as paying his dues. To be saddled with it again would be a demotion for sure, and he was confident that his pride couldn’t take it.

He answered his boss with a swift nod before he quickly exited, allowing the door to close behind him more harshly than would be socially acceptable. He made his way back to his own desk and started to furiously get to work on his new article, cursing under his breath and ignoring the stares of his fellow co-workers. 

Arthur was brought out of his thoughts by a flash of lightning, causing him to jump. _I better hurry home before the storm gets any worse._ He thought to himself before he rubbed at his face and got his umbrella ready.

Once outside he could feel the cold wind brush against his cheeks. The low little thumps of the rain hitting his umbrella started to mesh in a comfortable rhythm with the sounds of his walking and the noise of the city around him. If his day had gone any better, he would have found this walk in the rain quiet soothing. The rain had a tendency to bring up a nostalgic feeling in him. It reminded him of the rainy days he would have in his old home in England. 

Arthur soon found himself reminiscing as he continued his walk to his apartment. Yes, he had moved to the states a little over six years ago, back when he put caution to the wind and tried to make an unfixable situation work. 

* * *

Six years ago was when Arthur had decided to move across the pond with his soulmate. His watch had finally reached zero two years prior to a young, flamboyant, blond, French man, by the name of Francis Bonnefoy.

Arthur had met Francis while he was in school getting his degree in literature. Their relationship was something that people on the outside would describe as oil and water. They never seemed to get along on the surface. So it was a surprise even to Arthur when he started to develop feelings for the other, and was even more shocked when his watch reached zero. However, even though his watch no longer had a countdown, it would not fall off his wrist like how it was supposed to. 

In the current world that is today, all children are fitted with a special watch that can predict when that person meets their soulmate. This has been a procedure that was started way before Arthur was born, and perhaps even his grandparents. It was part of the growing age of technology said to help better the advance of society. Much like how the growing use of holo-graphics was becoming more and more popular, or use of hover transportation systems were becoming more common. 

It was an expected experience at this point for children to be fitted with soulmate watches so that they may find their best possible match. Arthur did not know specifically how the watches work, just that they were said to never be wrong. Or at least they were not supposed to be. 

Arthur couldn’t hide his watch from Francis for long. The other always liked to pry into his business. Francis was quick to admit that his watch had fallen off for Arthur as well and even despite the weird situation, Francis had insisted that they carry on being soulmates as the watches had predicted that they would be. He considered it an ‘act of destiny’ much like the commercials he saw praising the watches on the daily screen streams. 

The first following years of that relationship Arthur would describe as awkward, but nice with a touch of infatuation. He had never dated before, as he wanted to save himself for who his watch wanted him to be with. He hated to admit it but he liked and wanted to believe in this idea of romance between two destined souls chosen by the universe. 

So, even though in the beginning there were the occasional fights and awkward dates as they each tried to figure out one another, the time that was spent was enjoyable and held fondly in memory by Arthur’s standards.

It was their third year of being together when Francis seemed to really worry about Arthur and his watch. He started insisting that the other go to a doctor, or a psychologist to see if there was something deeper that they were missing. It was after many appointments, assessments and tests later, before a diagnosis was reached. There was nothing wrong with Arthur’s watch, but the problem was within Arthur instead. 

The current theory was that Arthur was holding himself back from getting too close to his soulmate. He somehow was imposing his own barrier and not allowing himself to freely be with his other half. The watch would remain attached to him until he was ready to give all of himself to his soulmate. 

Arthur had always been a very secluded person, and was one to never get too close to others. From the assessment of his last therapist, this was perhaps due to his upbringing, having a lot of older siblings where their teasing was more akin to bullying, or the fact that he was left often alone as a child. It would seem that he had learned to only truly count on himself, a tactic that was now interfering with his love life and preventing him from his ‘happily ever after’.   
  
It was this information that started the rift between him and Francis. The French man was deeply offended that Arthur couldn’t put his full love and trust in him, his supposedly one and only true 

love. The comfortable atmosphere they had around each other started to revert back to fighting, but with more intensity then before. 

The burden of knowing that he was the cause of their relationship problems deeply troubled Arthur. Not only did he want to be happy himself, but he wanted the same for Francis, even if others thought differently. 

So, he set out to better himself. He routinely went to therapy appointments, he had tried the occasional medication for the depression that followed, and he tried to be more open about his feelings, something that was very hard for him to do so.

These tactics had at one point given him hope, as his watch one day restarted with a new countdown. The cases of people having more than one soulmate were very few and far between, so It was proposed that this new countdown was good progress and a way of Arthur healing, and perhaps allowing himself to fully understand and accept his feelings for Francis.

He remembered the celebratory dinner he and Francis had after his once blank watch had displayed ‘00 Years 03 Months 27 Days 23 Hours 59 Minutes 56 Seconds’. It was viewed as a chance for things to play out perfectly this time. His problems would be fixed and things would go back to their comfortable normal, but perhaps with more passion than before.

All eyes were on his watch at that point. His zero day had been marked on their calendar, with a nice dinner date planned at their favorite pub. Francis had gone back to his normal affectionate self, instead of being accusatory and starting arguments. Those three months brought a lot of joy, laughter, and the old normalcy of them being a couple again. It was like the watch did more than reset his counter, but had reset their relationship as well. 

That was why the disappointment hit so hard when Arthur’s watch went off again, displayed the typical zeros, but still did not fall off. It was after this stressful night that led to a new pattern for them, of Arthur’s watch resetting over and over, creating false hope and starting a constant cycle of good months and bad.

It was when their relationship was near the last of its threads was when Francis announced that he would be moving to the United States. To Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to be exact. He had agreed to take a management position at his current company abroad, which offered a rather big increase in his salary. He offered for Arthur to accompany him, perhaps the change in environment would help his situation?

So Arthur was left with what he felt like were very limited choices. They both knew that long distance wouldn’t work, so staying behind would bring an end to things. This also brought up a lot of other consequences, he would have to live with the fact that he was broken, incapable of being close to others, and alone. There was also the matter of Francis. Arthur would be leaving the poor bloke by himself, without his other half. He could only imagine how hard it would be to face others and have to admit to yourself that your soulmate wouldn’t and couldn't love you. 

Trying over and over again was growing exhausting, but the guilt that he was to blame for all of this was what really pushed him to his decision. He just hoped that after all this trouble there would be a happy ending for the both of them. In all the romance novels, and fairytales he had read there were always trials to overcome, but happy ends were sure to follow. And maybe their happy ending was across the pond?

With his mind made up, Arthur had packed his bags and agreed to move with Francis. With the added stress of moving, and Arthur’s trouble in finding a job his counter seemed even more all over the place then usual. And it was because of this that there were more fights, more silence and more distance, until it finally reached a breaking point. 

One night Francis surprised him by taking him out to a rather nice restaurant downtown. He had appreciated the gesture and was under the impression that perhaps things were finally turning around. It was after the meal where things finally broke. 

“Arthur mon cher,” Francis looked over at him from across the dining table with the same tired, and somber expression that had grown on his face in the past few years. “I think it’s time for us to wave the white flag.”

Arthur’s eyes widened and he could feel his chest tighten. There was no way this was happening. Not after all that they have been through. There was no way that his soulmate was giving up on him. 

“Listen, if this is about the oven, I have already apologized. I told you I can pay for a replacement next month.”

“Why must you always do this?” Francis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Always denying what is in front of you.”

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” 

“This! That right there.” Francis quickly gestured at Arthur before he quickly stopped and took in a breath. “Non. I will not fight with you. But Arthur, I need you to listen to me. I like you. A lot. I… I love you Arthur but what we have isn’t working.”

Arthur could feel his hands trembling and was quick to move them to his lap. He could feel his heart beat in his ears. Francis really couldn’t be saying these things could he? 

“W-what do you mean?” he couldn’t keep his voice from trembling. 

“I can’t wait for you to never love me Arthur.” Francis reached over and took a rather large sip from his ordered wine, a tactic to help lessen the stress being displayed on his face. “We are 

both exhausted. I think we both need to set each other free. I… I think we will both be happier this way.”

“But we’re soulmates aren’t we? We can’t just not be together. I’m trying to fix things!” His fear was now turning to anger and frustration.

“I know.” Francis gave a tired sigh. “But it’s not working. And I would like to be with someone who can fully love me before I grow old. I can’t keep waiting on you Arthur…”

“What about ‘destiny’?” Arthur bit back. “And all this true love that you like to talk about. The watches are never wrong Francis. You want to give that up? You want to give up on me?” 

“I do believe in destiny and the watches. I… I don’t think it was just chance or a fluke of us meeting and our watches going off. I think what we had experienced was love.” Francis swirled his wine in his glass taking a few moments to watch the red liquid swirl around. 

“Then why-”

“But I also believe that love can grow and change.” Francis cut Arthur off his expression growing serious. “While I was waiting on your love to grow, my own love for you changed. Instead of wanting to wake up with you every morning, I was getting up early to avoid you. And every activity instead of a date turned into a fight. More so than usual” He gave a sad, sounding chuckle. 

Arthur could feel the stinging of tears forming in his eyes. But he was determined to not let them fall. Not yet. He glared at Francis waiting for him to continue. 

“I regret that I did these things, and I know it hurt you. It took a long time for me to come to terms with my own feelings. Soulmates shouldn’t be like this I thought to myself, so I looked into getting another watch...”

“Another watch?!” Arthur let out a shout. 

Getting another watch implemented was an uncommon procedure, but not unheard of. In instances where someone’s watch was broken in an accident and needed replaced, or if in the event that one’s soulmate had died they might look into getting another watch. The procedure was known to be more expensive and difficult with age. There was also the fact that having more than one soulmate according to recent studies was rare, so the chance of finding another with a new watch was slim. 

“Shh calm down, you don’t have to be so loud!” Francis shushed him. “Yes. I got the procedure done five months ago.”

“Five months ago?” 

Arthur quickly lifted up his shirt sleeve, turned over his right hand and looked at his wrist. 00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 05 Minutes 32 Seconds. His eyes watched the seconds start clicking down.

“Yes. I honestly didn’t have any hope for it to work. But a new time displayed and when it finally reached zero I met him and well…” Francis took another sip of his wine. “It was much like how the commercials call it, magical.”

Arthur kept his gaze down at his watch. 00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 03 Minutes 24 Seconds. 

“I know this is difficult. But I believe that this is the best course for us. I think this way you can get more help, without me as added stress. I know you stopped seeing your therapist… Maybe you can start making appointments again, or find another doctor.”

00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 01 Minutes 30 Seconds. 

“And I’m going to be honest with you. I’m very happy with my new soulmate.” A small smile graced Francis’ lips. “The happiest I have been in awhile. I hope that one day you are able to feel the same Arthur.”

00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 00 Minutes 30 Seconds.

Francis then finished the rest of his wine before pulling out his wallet and leaving money for the bill on the table. “I left enough for you to get a pint of your usual. I have a place to stay for a while, we can discuss the apartment at a later time.”

00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 00 Minutes 20 Seconds. 

Francis got up and straightened his jacket and let out a sigh. “I wish you the best of luck Arthur.” He reached out and gently squeezed the other’s shoulder, a somber expression on his face once more. 

00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 00 Minutes 10 Seconds. 

“I know how fond you are of your stories and poems, so let me leave you with this, I say goodbye to you today as my lover and as my other half. But know that you will always have a piece of me and I of you. Even though this is a farewell I hope to one day welcome you back as a friend, each of us with two smaller pieces, part of our whole.” 

00 Years 00 Months 00 Days 00 Hours 00 Minutes 05 Seconds. 

Arthur let out a gasp as fresh tears dropped down onto his watch, making the numbers a little hard to read. He snapped his head up to look at Francis who quickly turned and started to walk away. 

“Goodbye mon ami.” 

“Francis, wait!” Arthur got up and went to go after the other but froze when his watch suddenly started beeping. It seemed louder than normal, almost as if it was an alarm. He turned his attention back to his watch as it flashed the normal zeros. He held his breath, wishing with every fiber of his being that the contraption would finally fall off. 

_Please… please just let me have this. I can fix this. I just need more time!_ His thoughts quickly stopped as he watched the numbers fade to the all too familiar blank screen. He heard the front door of the restaurant open and shut, and a chorus of murmuring voices around him. He could feel his legs tremble, straining to hold him up. 

Arthur made his way back over to his table before he let himself collapse onto his seat. He was vaguely aware of a waitress asking if he was okay before he placed a drink order, his voice seeming to come out on it’s own accord. 

“Y-Yes thank you. A pint of pale ale please.” The next hour or so was spent drinking and crying before he managed to find his way home alone, where he continued to cry until he fell asleep. 

It was not long after that day that Arthur ended up moving out of their shared apartment and had started making it on his own. He had entertained the idea of moving back home to England, but he didn’t want to face the questions and the awkward conversations that he was sure to receive, and the already influx of feelings he was experiencing was too much to handle. Arthur decided to stay in the ever growing city of technology and advancement, the famously known ‘City of Steel’, a place that he thought was fitting for him and his heart that was apparently made of stone.

The first night alone in his new apartment Arthur made his way to his bedroom, cluttered with his moving boxes. He sat down on his bed and glanced at his wrist looking at his watch, displaying a blank face once more. The mixture of frustration, hurt, and despair hit him all at once and he let out a choked sob. Large tears fell from his eyes as he cried. It would seem that he was always meant to be alone and incapable of loving another to obtain a true soulmate.

After crying for what felt like hours, Arthur then became angry as he stared at his watch. He quickly started to scratch and pull at it, to try to rip it from his wrist. He didn’t want this watch to be a part of him anymore. He didn’t want the constant reminder that he was broken. That there was something wrong with him. The pulling and scratches left marks on his wrist, causing a burning and stinging pain. 

His watch soon started to beep rapidly as he could see small traces of blood seep from behind it. The stinging pain was getting worse, but Arthur only stopped when the watch stopped beeping and the face turned black. He sat there panting, holding his now injured wrist in his hands. That was the end to his first day on his own in a long time, spending the night doctoring himself up before passing out trying to forget the sudden numb feeling that was taking place in his heart. 

* * *

Arthur sighed as he climbed up the stairs to his apartment. Once inside the main building he took the lift to the 4th floor and made his way to his ‘home sweet home’ number 404. Upon entering the apartment he shed his coat and put it on the hanger, and left his umbrella to dry by the door. He was quick to put the kettle on for tea. All these emotions were making him exhausted and he was in for a long night of editing anyway. He needed the warm drink to help calm him down and hopefully give him peace of mind. 

As he reached to open one of his cabinets to get a teacup, his sleeve rode up and he was met with the sight of his watch. It’s face was now a dull black, with a few scratches seen in the light. The skin around the watch was lighter too, slight scares from the damage that he had caused to himself from before. 

Arthur was quick to hide it again and grab his cup, anxiously waiting by the tea kettle waiting for the water to boil. He hated being reminded of his watch, he wanted to remove it, but came up with a lot of excuses not to. Such as, the procedure was too expensive, finding a doctor or institution that would accept his reasons would be difficult, and the last most painful one was he thought deep down he deserved to have the reminder, as if it was some sort of punishment for not being able to fully love his soulmate. 

He jumped at the shrill sound of the kettle whistling and let out a breath. He carefully took it off the stove, and started to prepare his tea, putting the diffuser in his cup and soon letting the tea steep once he let the hot water sit for a moment or two.

Arthur was very fond of this ritual of making tea. He did it very old school, taking the time to boil the water and steep the tea leaves with a diffuser. He knew he could get high tech appliances, ones that could make teas, coffees and more in an instant, but he was rather fond of the traditional method. And right now it was letting him work with his hands and distracting his thoughts, something right now he was very thankful for. 

As he let his tea steep, Arthur moved to his bedroom where he changed into some pajamas to get more comfortable. He glanced at himself in his bedroom mirror, taking note of his pale complexion, with his freckles seeming to be more obvious than usual, especially around his face. And goodness, did he look tired with slight dark circles lying under his green eyes. 

“Alright, just need to finish this job up and then you can get some rest old boy.” He pep talked himself before he found his laptop and headed back out to the kitchen. He grabbed his tea, making sure to put a spot of milk in, just the way he liked it before he started to get to work revising his next article. 

It was through an all-nighter of editing and a lot of tea the following morning that Arthur was able to submit his new piece on time. He waited till after it was published to celebrate, as knowing how the public would react would determine his fate. 

It was now Friday, the end of the week and more than a day since the piece was posted to their blog, “Watching For The One” and he had not yet been called to see Mr. Myers so Arthur thought he was in the clear. That was until he got a ping right after lunch to see his boss. Really he should have known. 

What was wrong with the piece this time? If it didn’t generate the views that they wanted, well that wasn’t Arthur’s fault! He had tried to break them out of their redundant path, it was only natural that their same pieces over and over again would get boring. Also what did he expect after giving him such a tight deadline? Arthur did the best that he could do with the timeframe he was given. Well if Myers wanted to demote him to the ask blog he would get a piece of his mind first.

He made his way to his bosses office once again, this time more angry then nervous and quickly knocked on the door. He barely waited for confirmation before he opened the door and looked right at his boss. 

“If this is about my latest work I will have you know that it-”

“Was the best piece yet!” Mr. Myers cut in with a smile at Arthur, causing him to stop in confusion. He looked at his boss's excited demeanor, it was such a drastic change from earlier this week it was making Arthur’s head spin. He blinked a few times before he gently took a seat in front of his boss after closing the door. 

“I’m sorry, it’s what?”

“Your most recent piece,” Mr. Myers continued to smile. “It hit a new record for our engagement metrics.” He turned his computer screen to show Arthur the specs. “I knew you had it in you Kirkland, you just need a little push sometimes.”

“Oh.” 

Arthur could feel his anger deflating, and taking place was slight relief as well as slight disappointment that something he didn’t have passion in got the best results of his career so far. 

“Not only were the metrics on this piece high, but it was also featured on SoulTech’s website, blog, and interfeed.” 

Arthur’s bushy eyebrows rose in even more surprise by this information. SoulTech was the main company that created, and helped implement the soulmate watches. They mostly did their own articles, and blogs, so to be featured by them was considered a big deal. It was like Arthur’s company was now being endorsed by SoulTech or more likely soon, vice versa. 

“And that isn’t even the best part.” Mr. Myers continued. “One of SoulTech’s inner advertising agents reached out to me. They were really impressed with the listing article, and want to do some media posts with us sometime soon. So of course I agreed, I mean this is SoulTech we're talking about here! They mentioned they have big projects coming up regarding the watches and wanted to do an interview piece with one of their senior engineers. So I said I would send our best writer over.”

“Oh goodness sir, I am hardly-”

“Yeah I wanted to send Héderváry over, the star of our “Watches Addict” section.”

“Oh.” 

Arthur couldn’t help but deflate a little more. Of course he wasn’t the best writer on their team. But then where was his boss going with all of this?

“But the agent was adamant that they wanted the author of the latest piece, which happens to be you Kirkland. So, You got an interview gig next week on Tuesday, 10 am. It’s at the SoulTech headquarters, I’ll send over the specific directions and instructions later.” 

Now this was a rather interesting turn of events. Arthur would have never imagined that he would be writing an interview piece, let alone about someone who designs the soulmate watches. It felt a little strange. He was excited for the opportunity but the subject matter was something that he wanted to strive away from. Still, maybe he could use this to impress his boss even more, and if that happens he could get a raise, a promotion maybe and could write better pieces and- okay he was getting ahead of himself. He stopped his thoughts and concentrated back onto what his boss was saying. 

“You know the company policy, while you are there you are representing us as whole, so act in the most professional manner as possible. You will get a media badge at the main gate, blah blah blah you know the spiel.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You will need to send over a list of generic questions for their approval beforehand too. They will talk about their new project but also want personable questions too, like ‘favorite food place’ ‘company culture’, that sort of deal. Deadline is Monday so I’ll let you go hop to it.” Mr. Myers folded his hands in front of him and then motioned his head towards the door, granting Arthur leave. 

“Uh, right yes of course.” Arthur, still in a slight state of confusion nodded and then got up and headed towards the exit. 

“This is a big deal Kirkland. A lot is riding on this. If I hear this doesn’t go well you know where you will end up. This is another push, let’s see if you keep stepping forward, or if you fall.”

Arthur mutely nodded before he headed back to his desk, his bosses what he assumed was supposed to be encouraging, but more ominous words bouncing around in his head. There was now a lot of pressure being put on him and he could already sense the oncoming stress that would soon follow. He decided a quick tea break would help calm his nerves before jumping right back to work. 

He headed to the break room where he begrudgingly used the instant brew appliance, lovingly provided by their workplace. While he was taking his time to figure out the machine, a few of his coworkers came in, loudly talking. 

“Did you see the latest post? It has gotten so popular I bet everyone was drawn in by my pictures~”

“It totally performed better than I thought! I was a little worried for Arthur, recently his stuff has been kind of drab you know?”

“That’s why I try to add in lots of beautiful pictures, and art to help bring out the good feelings and oh-!” 

Arthur couldn’t help the scowl on his face as he clearly overheard the other two’s conversation. It wasn’t like they were trying to be quiet about it. He turned around and greeted his coworkers, one with a cheerful demeanor and brown hair with a stray curl that stood out on the side of his head. The other was a chatty individual with short, straight, blond hair, and was sporting a rather bright pink dress shirt with some sort of ornate design. 

“Hello Feliciano, Feliks.” he gave a nod to them and then turned back to the machine, hoping he could quickly get his tea, and get out. 

Feliciano was part of their design team. He usually came up with nice graphics for each of the different posts and more visual pieces. He was known for his cheerful and carefree attitude. He was well liked by most people in the office. Arthur assumed this was how Feliciano could get away with taking frequent naps at his desk. Maybe it was that, or the fact that he could always produce stunning work no matter the time crunch. 

Feliks the blond was one of their writers for their more gossip side of the business. He mostly worked on pieces that involved rumors about celebrities, or other important figures. He was very dedicated to his work, or so he heard. There were tales of Feliks going so far as to do espionage for a good scoop, though he was pretty sure this rumor was started by Feliks himself. 

“Arthur!” Feliciano smiled at him excitedly. “Did you hear about your latest article? It was a hit! I’m glad I got to work on the pictures with you.”

“Yes I heard. I also heard that my most recent work was, drab was it?” Arthur couldn’t help but scowl at Feliks, who held his hands up defensively. 

“Hey I am just telling it like it is. But sometimes drab is cool too you know? I mean it’s not like I don’t like your writing or anything. It’s just recently you have been more uh newsy? I mean the boss totally was not having it you know?”

Arthur grumbled to himself and turned his attention back to the machine in front of him. After a few seconds of some rapid button pushing, he heard a beep and the machine started to work on creating his drink. 

“Aww don't be upset Arthur. Your recent piece was great!” Feliciano gave a smile trying to break any tension in the room. “The boss even called you in to congratulate you. And you didn’t slam the door this time so I know it turned out okay.”

“Yes, he did seem rather impressed with it. I just wish I could say the same for myself.” Arthur sighed and then grabbed the steaming cup that the machine produced for him. 

“Well lots of other people were impressed, and a little birdy told me that even the people of SoulTech were impressed. So much so that they want to do some future work with you.” Feliks gave Arthur a knowing smirk. 

“Oh wow! Congrats Arthur!” Feliciano clapped happily. “You will have to tell us more about it when you can.”

“Wait, how do you know that already?” Arthur asked genuinely surprised. He literally just got told the news himself, and it couldn’t have traveled that fast could it?

“Elizabeta told me.” Feliks smiled. “Apparently during the conference call she was in with the boss he tried to get her to do it, but they were so impressed with your work, that they wanted to meet you. It’s a little funny honestly.” 

“Funny?” 

“Yeah, I mean no offense but with your recent stuff, I don’t think anyone expected SoulTech of all people to reach out to work with you. Besides your listing articles you try to avoid writing about the watches right? I wonder why that is?” Feliks looked over at Arthur’s right wrist, as if trying to see through his shirt sleeves to see his watch.

Okay this conversation was quickly turning in a direction that he was not comfortable with. It was now time to do what Arthur did best, and that was make a quick exit out of conversations he didn’t want to have. 

“Speaking of watches, would you look at the time?” He vaguely gestured at the time displayed on the wall. “I have to get back to work, important interview questions to write you know. I’ll be off.” He gave the other two a quick parting nod before he exited the break room. 

“Don’t worry Arthur you’ll find your soulmate someday!” Feliks shouted out after him, causing him to blush in embarrassment, with the tips of his ears turning red. He could hear Feliciano gasping loudly behind him only adding to his frustration. 

“Bugger off!” He couldn't help but shout back before quickly making his way back to his desk, ignoring the snickers and murmurs from other workers as he passed by. Why did his coworkers have to be such nuisances? 

_Never is more correct for me I’m afraid…_ Arthur took a seat at his desk and rubbed his head. Ah yes here was the stress he was sensing. He took a sip from his hot drink and nearly spat it out. He took a closer look at the dark liquid and scowled. It was coffee. Of course he would manage to get the wrong drink too.

Arthur moved the cup of rather bitter coffee away from him, and decided to check his email to see if there were any updates for this interview event he had lined up. He quickly found the message from his boss, labeled as important and started reading it through. 

He got the basic directions and instructions for checking in at the SoulTech headquarters. He was also impressed to get a basic bio and picture of the engineer he would be interviewing. He looked over the picture and saw a rather young looking blond male, with bright blue eyes behind square glasses. He was displaying a big smile, showing his nice, white teeth. He seemed very charismatic, not what he would have suspected for an engineer type. 

Arthur then skimmed through the man’s brief biography. 

‘Alfred Jones  
Senior Engineer  
SoulTech Industries INC

Mr. Alfred Jones has been in the industry for the past five years. With a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a masters in chemical engineering he brings a lot of knowledge to help SoulTech’s pursuit of helping others find their true happiness in their perfect match. SoulTech has high hopes for him, as he continues to study under his father, Allen Jones, the Lead Engineer at SoulTech for the past 30 years. 

Besides helping the betterment of society, Alfred takes pleasure in hobbies such as gaming, hanging out with friends and watching action movies. He is also a big Wasps fan, the local driftball team. If you ask him, they are going to win the championship for sure!’

Arthur let out a snort as he finished reading about this ‘Alfred Jones’. It seemed like a typical company profile, trying to seem very personable. _Of course he is a Wasps fan, you and everyone else in this city_. He rolled his eyes before looking back over the other’s profile picture. 

The man was very attractive and that much was clear. Arthur was also impressed to learn he had obtained a Master's degree, since he looked rather young. _Oh, that might be a good interview question._ Arthur opened up their writing software and started to make a general list of questions to ask Mr. Jones. He was actually a little excited to be doing something different, and a little more than curious to see what exactly SoulTech wanted to announce, even if it did deal with those bloody soulmate watches. 

While Arthur typed away at his desk, he was unaware of the current condition of his watch, safely tucked under the sleeve of his shirt. The once dull, blank face flickered and seemed to come back to life, it’s light less bright then before. But the numbers would be easy to see if one took a look. A new countdown had started:

00 Years 00 Months 03 Days 10 Hours 15 Minutes 45 Seconds. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have not been active in this fandom in quiet awhile, and this is my first time posting here. My other earlier and rougher works can be found on Fanfiction.Net. This is an idea that popped into my head forever ago and I am glad I finally got some time to sit down and work on it. I hope everyone enjoys this weird kind of futuristic setting I have planned out, the idea is kind of like an in-between stage for higher technology if that makes sense. I'm hoping to get more time to work on this in the future. Until then!
> 
> ~Rose


End file.
